FTC SUES
Diet-Aid Companies Over False Claims IN A MOVE TO PROTECT CONSUMERS from false advertising claims, in early January 2014 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued four companies, alleging that they had made “unfounded promises” to consumers. As reported in the New York Times and other major media outlets including NBC News, the four companies – Sensa Products, L’Occitane, HCG Diet Direct and LeanSpa – will pay a total of $34million in refunds to consumers although they will not be required to admit or deny fault in the case. Lawyers familiar with this latest lawsuit say that the FTC has made it clear that they will accept only double-blind, placebo-controlled studies to support the medical effectiveness claims of diet programs. Weight-loss products accounted for 13% of the fraud claims – more than twice the number in any other product category – that were submitted to the FTC in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available. To help media companies catch fraudulent claims before they are publically disseminated, the FTC has recently proposed new guidelines. These new rules, dubbed “Operation Failed Resolutions,” are the latest in a long line of enforcement efforts aimed at rooting out bogus weightloss schemes. While these enforcement efforts have yielded some success, the financial pressure on media companies to accept these ads has increased dramatically in recent years as the weight-loss industry has exploded. In 2014, consumers are expected to spend upwards of $66 billion on diet soft drinks, health club memberships, dietary supplements and other weight-loss aids according to Marketdata Enterprises. The products cited in the FTC’s suit against three of the companies include Sensa’s weight loss powder which the company claimed enabled users to lose weight by making them feel fuller faster, L’Occitane’s Almond Beautiful Shape and Almond Shaping Delight creams which the company claimed could shave inches off the user’s body in four weeks, and HCG Diet Direct’s Drops which contained a naturally produced hormone that was falsely promoted as a weight-loss supplement. LeanSpa was sued over its use of fake news websites to promote acai berry and colon cleanse weight-loss products and for charging consumers a recurring monthly fee after they had signed up for a supposedly free trial. for weight loss tips & more visit us @ skinnynews.com 37